As the name suggests city of spies was a complicated tale following Elizabeth de Moray and her various quests in France &Portugal mainly. I found the historical detail very heavy going and this may be because I have been reading a number of spy thrillers of late. I found following her journey quite difficult and there was lots of switching of characters as you may expect from a spy novel. The male parts in the book were brief although they were helpful to Lisbet she mostly works alone using her own stubborn nature and suspicions. I found Claudine a confusing character and Julian they didn’t aside from getting Lisbet the right connections and parties have much function. Overall a little deep and generally confusing. Not my favourite spy thriller but worth a read all the same.